Stores which sell house paint need a convenient way to display the paint's color for consumers without having to open cans. This is typically accomplished using samples, also known as paint chips, having a swatch or swatches of paint appearing on strips or cards of paper or plastic. In a typical display, a plurality of paint chips of like color or colors are held upright on edge in front-to-back relationship such that removal of the frontmost sample from the assembly exposes the next adjacent sample. The consumer is encouraged to remove these samples from their display assembly and take them home.
A problem can occur when the consumer removes paint chips from the display. As the number of samples decreases in the display, the remaining samples have a tendency to fall forward out of an upright position. As a result, the true colors of the samples are not adequately displayed because at even a slight forward angle, light may not be properly reflected off the paint chip sample. Consequently, the consumer may be misled as to the proper paint color.
The present invention solves this problem through the use of a paint chip holder having a retaining member with a pivotable hinge, the retaining member having a pair of arms which exert pressure against the samples, so that no matter how many paint chips samples are removed by the consumer, the remaining samples stay in an upright position. Other advantages of the present invention include that the holder is easily refillable, portable, easy to maintain and assemble, can be displayed as a plurality and retains the paint chips without interference with visibility of either the paint chips or of the display assembly overall.